Bionica
by ViolentAlice
Summary: Rory Hart had always fought for America without asking anything in return, except the solitude she enjoys in retirement. Rory is soon contacted by S.H.I.E.L.D. however, to fight not just for America, but for the world... Takes place during and after Avengers. Future Loki/OC. Rated T for language.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello, my fine, furry friends! And welcome, to my newest obsession: THE AVENGERS. Me gusta, indeed. **

**Disclaimer: The fact that I even wrote 'Disclaimer' should be enough to inform you that I don't own Marvel. (I wish I did, but alas...) The only things I own are my OC and my plot bunnies. So. Carry on.**

* * *

**File No.: **1003489

**Subject: **Individual Report

**Subjects Name: **Lorelei "Rory" Anne Hart

**Rank: **Three-Star General (Retired)

**Codename: **Bionica

**Report:**

Born August 13th, 1921. Joined United States Army August 13th,1939. Specially promoted to Captain due to tactical genius in 1944. Played as an asset to winning several major battles in the war. In June 1946 stepped on a rogue land mine. What was left of Hart's body was put into a drug-induced coma for the next several months while Howard Stark (see File No. 1002137) created Hart a new body made of proto-adamantium, covered in a synthetic material that resembles flesh. This made Hart physically indestructible, while still physically acceptable. Hart's brain was implanted inside the metal body successfully on March 8th, 1947. Though the war had ended, Hart proved to be invaluable during the course of her service. Hart stayed in the military and resigned shortly after the September 11th incident in 2001. An excerpt from an interview about resignation:

"… I never doubted that I would come back for America. When you live forever you begin to understand that there's never going to be peace. There's always a next 'big conflict'. So I'm not leaving; I'm just taking an extended vacation."

Director Fury tossed the personnel file on the table. Agent Hill glanced at the file name.

"Is it really that bad, Director?" She asked, "To call in the invincible is a pretty desperate move."

"At this point, Agent Hill, nothing is too desperate."

* * *

If there was one thing Rory Hart hated, it was being awoken at five in the morning on a Sunday by an annoying agent by the name of Smith. The knocking on her front door was relentless, until she managed to crawl out of her bed and open the threshold.

"Good morning General Hart." The aforementioned agent said cheerily, "I didn't wake you, did I?" He asked standing in the doorway.

"Don't worry about it, son." She managed a smile, as she motioned him inside.

"I can assure you, General Hart, I've got a good reason. Fury's calling in a team; we've got an issue. A big issue." The agent spoke theatrically. Rory sighed and rubbed her temples.

'_What is _with_ Nick Fury and his issues?'_

"I've only been in retirement for ten years and the world's about to end again," She sighed, "How soon do they want me in?"

"They've already sent out the jet. It should arrive in twenty minutes." She snorted. Fury knew her all too well, "Well, I thank you Agent Smith for summoning me, but now it seems I must sort my belongings." The agent stood up and dismissed himself, and Rory began packing.

* * *

Right on schedule, a jet plane with the S.H.E.I.L.D. insignia landed in the open field by Rory's meek little cabin. She quickly boarded the plane to be greeted by an Agent Coulson.

"It is truly an honor to meet you, 'Bionica'." The man named Coulson shook her hand vigorously, all the while smiling like a little boy on Christmas. Rory chuckled at the name.

"It has been awhile since I have been called that. I am pleased to meet you as well, sir. Now what is this situation at hand?" Rory knew it must be of large proportions if Nick Fury had to call her in. He didn't bother the indestructible for nothing.

"I'll leave the debriefing to Director Fury." Coulson smiled with secrecy and turned to the pilots, motioning them to take off. "We have one more to pick up, General Hart. If you would please buckle in."

* * *

It was an uneventful flight, and Rory had absolutely no idea where they were going. She'd been there when S.H.E.I.L.D. first started; the least they could do was share _some_ information. After nearly two hours the jet finally landed, and Agent Coulson left to talk to the last recruit. Thirty minutes slowly ticked away before Coulson finally re-emerged with another man. He was tall, masculine, and had blonde hair. Rory thought the man looked eerily familiar as she gradually took him in. The man must've thought Rory was familiar too, because he was also staring at her with a furrowed brow.

"Something wrong, Captain?" Coulson asked, looking up at the man he practically worshipped. Steve removed his eyes from Rory. She smirked, finally recognizing the man.

"Nothing, sir. It's impossible." He whispered the last part to himself. He ran his fingers through his hair in a stressed manner. Rory could tell that he was very bothered by the situation.

"Improbable, yes, but not impossible Captain. Though I admit, I didn't ever think I'd see you alive again, either." She rose from her seat with a grin on her face. Steve's eyes lit up longingly.

"Rory?" He asked, barely above a whisper, hoping beyond hope that something familiar would return to his miserable existence.

"It is lovely to see you, Steven." She greeted, holding her arms out for a hug. The captain's eyes widened. He dropped his belongings and embraced the girl tightly, fearing that if he let go she might disappear.

"How is this possible?" He asked, relieved that not everything he once knew was lost.

There was a pregnant pause before Rory continued. "I am not quite as you once knew me, Steve. There was an incident during the war." This statement caused Steve looked confused. Coulson walked to the pit and began speaking with the pilots. Rory took that as a sign that they would be taking off soon. She motioned for Steve to sit beside her as she began telling her story.

"You ought to remember that I was a "soldier" during the war." She began, finger quoting the word 'soldier'. Steve looked confused at the gesture, but ignored it.

"Right, I remember your endless complaining about not being able to fight on the front lines." Steve chuckled at the memory. She smirked, also reflecting on the simpler times.

"I was being used for my tactical mind… There was… An unfortunate turn of events, though. One day I was taking a stroll and I must have wandered too far," Rory took a breath. Even after nearly 70 years the memory still frightened her, "They told me I stepped on a rogue land-mine." Steve looked shocked, but said nothing.

"When I was found, I was still alive, but barely. I was sent to the nearest hospital where I was put into a drug-induced comatose for months. During this time the brilliant Howard Stark outfitted me a new body made of adamantium. A perfect replica of my former self, without any of my human flaws. My old body was too weak to contain my still perfectly functioning mind, so they put it in here." Rory tapped her head, which created a resonating _ding, _"Howard had created a new synthetic fiber that had the look and consistancy of human flesh. He covered my new body with it, stuck some hairs on my head, and here I am." Rory finished lamely. Steve sighed, and put his head in his hands. He ran his fingers through his hair once more. His hair was amply mussed by now. Rory figured he'd been running his fingers through his hair a lot lately; it was a common stressful tick. A good five minutes passed before Steve finally spoke up.

"How come I never heard about this, Rory?" Steve felt his heart ache for the woman. To watch everyone she loved grow old and die, while she remained the same, was even harder than just disappearing for 70 years. She smiled at him; a tinge of sadness adorned her eyes.

"It was about a year after you… left." Steve sat silently while he tried to wrap his head around the new information. After a moment he hugged the unsuspecting Rory. She jumped at the contact.

After a long pause Steve spoke up, "It really is good to see a familiar face, Rory."

A smile cracked on Rory's face as she hugged Steve back, "I know it's been rough Steve. I know."

* * *

They soon arrived at the S.H.E.I.L.D. headquarters; an aircraft carrier in the middle of the ocean. On the ride there the two had been debriefed on other members assembling with them, a few of which were Agent Natasha Romanoff and a Dr. Bruce Banner. They met once the jet touched down. Steve and Rory walked on to the pavement, and a woman with short, fiery red hair approached them.

"Agent Natasha Romanoff," Coulson spoke from behind the two, "Captain Rogers and General Hart."

"Ma'am." Steve greeted, while Rory gave a brief nod. Agent Romanoff responded with a quick "Hi", and began talking to Coulson.

"General?" Steve turned to Rory, astonished.

"Retired." Rory shrugged, "I've had seventy years, Steve. There's been more than one war since you've left us." She said, chuckling. Agent Romanoff informed Coulson he was needed on the bridge. Coulson nodded, and walked away. The agent turned her attention to the two.

"It was quite the buzz around here, finding you in the ice." Agent Romanoff said to Steve as the trio began walking, "We thought Coulson was going to swoon. Did he ask you to sign his trading cards?"

"Trading cards?" Steve asked with a smirk.

"They're vintage. He's very proud." Rory chuckled, and shook her head. She noticed Coulson's childlike infatuation with Steve earlier, and was not surprised to hear that he had expensive Captain America memorabilia.

"And he about died when he found out you'd be working with us, Miss Hart. Apparently his niece is a huge fan." Rory snorted.

"Well, it's good to know kids take interest in something other than video games every now and then." Rory said with a smirk, "And call me Rory. All this 'General' and 'Miss' stuff gets irritating…" Natasha nodded with a smile. Still smirking to herself, Rory looked up and saw another familiar face on board the carrier.

"Dr. Banner!" Steve called his attention first. Rory noticed how fidgety the good doctor looked. She winced, knowing this experience had to be hard for him, and he likely didn't come on his own will.

"Uh, yeah, hi… They told me you'd be coming." He said, shaking Steve's hand. Banner had yet to notice Rory as he was still taking in the massive ship.

"Word is you can find the cube." Steve said politely. Banner looked around nervously again.

He sheepishly asked, "Is that the only word of me?"

"The only word I care about." Steve smiled at him. Dr. Banner nodded, relieved. At least someone wasn't there to judge him. For the first time Bruce turned to Rory, and he broke a genuine smile.

"Nice to see you, Miss Lorelei. They didn't tell me you'd be here." He greeted, shaking her hand.

"It is magnificent to see you too, Bruce. And please, _stop_ calling me Lorelei. It's Rory." She said pleaded with a grin. Both Steve and Natasha looked confused at the exchange before them.

"You know him?" Natasha inquired. Rory smirked at the memory of her first encounter with Dr. Banner.

"It was a couple of weeks after the good doctor's 'incident'. Fury called me in to help with some… containment issues." Rory's eyes twinkled with mischief, while Dr. Banner rubbed the back of his head, sheepishly chuckling.

"Yeah, it's useful to be indestructible around the other guy." At that moment a loud whirring sound resonated throughout the carrier. Natasha smirked knowingly.

"Gentlemen, you might want to step inside in a minute. It's gonna get a little hard to breathe." The three looked around, slightly confused.

"Is this a submarine?" Steve asked.

"Really? They want me in a submerged, pressurized, metal container?" Dr. Banner deadpanned, as they walked to the edge of the ship. They soon found out that the ship wasn't sinking; it was _flying._

Banner chuckled, "Oh no, this is much worse."

* * *

Natasha led the group inside to, what Rory guessed, was the bridge. The room was teaming with people running about, performing their duties. Rory took a seat at the table in the middle of the room, and saw Steve walk up to Director Fury, handing him a ten dollar bill. She looked on with curiosity, but said nothing. Fury smirked, pocketed the money, and walked to Dr. Banner.

"Doctor, thank you for coming." He said, shaking Banner's hand.

"Thanks for asking nicely," Bruce said dryly. Rory assumed from his tone that she was right, and he didn't really have much of a say on the matter. "How long am I staying?" Bruce continued.

"As soon as we get our hands on the tesseract, you're good." Fury stated monotonously. Bruce nodded.

"And, uh, where are you with that?" He asked, walking around and looking at a few of the many monitors in the room.

Coulson answered, "We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet. Cell phones, laptops. If it's connected to a satellite it's eyes and ears for us." He crossed his arms, looking pleased with himself. Natasha looked up from a screen that had a S.H.E.I.L.D. agent on it.

"That's still not gonna find it in time." Natasha stated.

"You're going to need to narrow your field." Bruce spoke up. Rory could see the gears already whirring in his head, "How many spectrometers do you have access to?" He turned to Fury.

"How many are there?" Fury replied with a smirk. Dr. Banner began laying out a plan for how he was going to narrow down the searching fields, and then asked to be shown his lab.

"Agent Romanoff," Fury called, "Show Dr. Banner to his laboratory, please." He ordered as Natasha stood up and escorted Dr. Banner out. Rory smiled after him. Fury approached Rory and she stood from her seat.

"Director Fury." She greeted, shaking his hand.

"Bionica." He returned stoically. Rory snorted.

'_Am I the only one who _can't_ say that with a straight face?'_

"So what exactly is the situation at hand, Director? No offense, but finding a cube of gamma radiation is really something that ought to be left to the geniuses."

"It's not finding it I need you for. It's the retrieval that could get messy." Rory nodded.

"… How messy?" She further inquired.

Fury looked her square in the face. "Inter-galactic messy."

* * *

S.H.E.I.L.D. had been running a face recognition program through their computers for nearly an hour by this point; while all Rory and Steve could do was sit back and watch. Coulson had finally asked Steve to sign his vintage Captain America cards.

"I mean… If it's not too much trouble." Steve stood awkwardly while Rory was snickering to herself.

"No, no. It's fine." Steve nodded, and then shot a glare at Rory.

"It's a vintage set. Took me a couple of years to collect them all." Coulson said proudly. Rory snorted once more, which caused Coulson to look at her. She covered it up by coughing. He was about to say something when the computer monitor cut him off by beeping.

"We've got a match." One of the agents said, "Stuttgart, Germany… He's not exactly hiding, sir." Director Fury turned to Steve and Rory.

"Cap'n, Bionica. You're up." Steve inhaled nervously, and nodded at Fury, before going to suit up. Rory looked down at her clothing. Her high-waisted jeans and neon yellow, off-the-shoulder, crop top made her look like a fashion icon of the 80's. Rory shrugged. It was better than her 60's garb…

* * *

**And there you have it! Chapter one! The next chapter we get to meet all of the other characters, and get some action and whatnot. Please leave reviews, they are definitely inspiring! And the more inspired I am, the more chapters you get, which in turn works out for everyone. :D So review! Suggest ideas! Whatever you feel like! Do eeet. Anywho~**

**-VA out!**

* * *

**YO. This is a late edit! :D This is just me saying that I combined the prologue and the first chapter. So. Yeah. That's pretty much it...**

**-VA**


	2. Chapter 2

**Woot! Chapter 2! This is exciting. We get to meet Loki~ :D Meeerp. I really don't have much to say. I don't really know why I'm typing this part actually. Other than the obvious disclaimer I guess. Yeah. I don't own Marvel. I only wish I was Stan Lee. Annnd. On with the story~**

* * *

"This is an odd place for Loki to be. What business does he have here?" Rory asked. She, Natasha, and Steve had taken one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Quinjets to Germany to apprehend Loki.

"We'll find out once we capture him." Natasha said firmly. They were coming upon the square where Loki had gathered the population before him. The entire crowd was kneeling to him. Steve looked on in disgust, and Rory shook her head. One elder man stood up, defying Loki. Rory felt her heart swell with pride for the man, but soon realized what Loki would do to those who resist his rule.

"Loki isn't going to like this. Go save him Cap. I'll be there soon." Rory gave him a reassuring slap on the back. Steve jumped out of the jet just in time to shield the elderly man from the energy blast that emitted from Loki's spear. Rory let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding, relieved that the man was okay.

"You can jump out any time, Bionica." Agent Romanoff stated, having the jet hover over the fight. Rory shook her head.

"Being made entirely of metal has its disadvantages. I'm going to have to wait until the crowd clears, I'd crush anything I land on!" Rory called back over the roaring sound of the jet engines. Natasha nodded, signaling she heard Rory. Just a few moments had passed with Steve fighting it out with Loki, and Rory heard something come over the PA system. She began laughing when she realized it was the band AC/DC, and that only one person she knew would do such a thing. At that moment Tony Stark flew over to the gathering in his Iron Man suit. He blasted Loki using his suit, and took a fighting stance once Loki sat up.

"Make a move, reindeer games." Tony said, several weapons aimed at Loki. He held his hands up in defeat as his Asgardian armor turned into that of regular clothing. "Good move."

"Mr. Stark." Steve greeted, panting.

"Captain." He returned.

* * *

They quickly re-boarded the jet, and were on their way back to the S.H.E.I.L.D. hellicarrier. Natasha was talking to Fury over the comm system, and in the back Tony began harassing Rory.

"Rores!" He greeted with open arms. Rory rolled her eyes, and made no effort to hug him, "Ouch, Rory. I'm really offended. The least you could do is hug me… And we could always do more than that, y'know." He said playfully, wriggling his eyebrows. Steve glared at him, obviously not approving of Tony's disrespect.

Rory snorted, "Tony. I changed your diapers. _That_ is a _majo_r turn off." Steve began laughing, and there was even a snicker from Loki. Rory smirked at Tony and he gave her his lop-sided grin.

"Fair enough, Miss Hart, fair enough. Now seriously, give me a hug." Rory sighed in acquiescence and gave him a hug. She wasn't surprised in the slightest when he slapped her ass after. Tony smirked devilishly and Rory lightly punched him in the arm. Tony stumbled, and Rory laughed, momentarily forgetting that she was made of metal and he was merely human.

"I deserved that." He admitted, still wearing his cheeky grin.

"Damn straight, Stark." Rory nodded. At that moment a sudden lightning storm cooked up. Loki looked on apprehensively.

"What's the matter, scared of a little lightning?" Steve asked.

"I'm not overly fond of what follows." Loki admitted. He looked as if he was waiting on something. Just a moment later the jet violently shook, and it sounded as if something had landed on top of it. Tony quickly put on the mask of his Iron Man suit, and opened the back hatch of the jet. Just as he did, a large man with long blonde hair flew in. Rory heard Tony's suit powering up, but he was knocked back by the man's hammer before he could do anything. The stranger seized Loki and flew off. Rory looked on, appalled.

"And now there's that guy…" Tony said, now getting off the floor.

"Another Asgardian?" Natasha called to them.

"That guy's a friendly?" Rory barely heard Steve over the thunder and wind.

"Doesn't matter. If he frees Loki, or kills him, the tesseract is lost." Tony began walking to the open hatch, Rory following close behind.

"We need a plan of attack!" Steve called after them.

"I have a plan: attack." With that Tony flew out of the jet. Rory sighed.

"Don't worry Steve; I'll make sure they won't all die!" Rory yelled over the roaring wind, and she too jumped out of the jet.

Unlike Tony, Rory didn't have rockets under her feet to control where she would land. She spotted Loki and the large man having a heated conversation on a plateau on the side of a hill. She angled herself to land in that spot, and was coming very close to smashing the stranger when Tony flew by, taking the man with him. Not even a second passed and Rory crashed where he once stood. It took her a moment, but she stood up and assessed the damage around her. Loki was still in one piece, though looking very shocked. Rory climbed out of the massive crater she created and stood beside him.

"Agent Romanoff, I've retrieved Loki, and Tony is duking it out with the stranger." Rory said over the ear piece.

"Stand your position, I'll be there soon. Captain Rogers parachuted out of the jet and should be nearby shortly."

"Roger. I created a nice landing pad for you," Rory smirked, looking at her handiwork, "Once you've got Loki I'll go assist Tony and Steve."

"Copy that, we're arriving now. Stand by." The jet touched down in the massive void Rory created. She loaded Loki on board, and stood on the open hatch in the back of the jet.

"Fly me closer!" Rory called to Natasha. She nodded, as the jet lifted, and flew over Tony and the stranger. Rory could see Steve running to the situation, but he was still a bit of a ways out. Rory jumped out of the back of the jet, and landed right in between Tony and the Asgardian. She landed just in time to see the large man throw his hammer at Tony, which launched him through several trees. Rory looked on in shock.

"Now that was a bit unreasonable." Rory berated, putting her hands on her hips. The man laughed condescendingly.

"You send a small woman against me? What could she possibly do?" The man mocked. Rory glared at him, and she heard Tony talking behind her.

"That was a very bad idea, she's very feministic." Tony _would_ crack a joke in this situation.

Rory approached the man, "Sir, I suggest you stand down before I have to hurt you." She said seriously. He laughed once more as he summoned his hammer.

"You cannot hurt me!" He bellowed, "I am Thor, God of-" He was cut off by Rory punching him in the chest, hurling him across the forest.

"What was that?" She called to him tauntingly. The man she now knew as Thor rose from the debris looking absolutely livid.

"It seems as if I had underestimated you." He stated.

Rory shrugged, "I seem get that a lot."

"No more. I will not hold back, even on you, woman." He glared. Thor began swinging his hammer in a circle, and Rory figured he was about to launch it at her, when Tony intervened, and shot him with an energy blast from the suit. It didn't seem to harm Thor in any way, just make him angrier. He roared and thrust his hammer into the air. Lightning began to come down and be absorbed by the hammer, which Thor pointed at Tony, and then discharged the energy. Rory gasped, first assuming it would fry Tony, like any other human being. When she heard him mutter, "Well. Would you look at that?" She then knew it had the exact opposite effect. Not a moment passed before energy burst from the Iron Man suit, aimed directly at Thor. The overabundance of energy caused Rory to shield her eyes from the brightness of it.

"Hot _damn._" She whispered in awe. After Tony's rebuttal Thor completely dismissed Rory, and began an all-out brawl with the Iron Man. Rory almost jumped in, but quickly dismissed the thought, in fear of crushing Tony in the process. The last thing he needs is more shrapnel digging through him. With punches, energy, and lightning flying the fight was truly marvelous to _any _onlooker, combat savvy or not. Tony and Thor were about to go at each other's throats once more when a star-spangled shield flew in and hit the two to grab their attention.

"Hey!" A voice called. The shield returned to it, "That's enough!" Steve Rogers, clad in his Captain America uniform, stepped forward and attempted to calm the situation.

"Now I don't know what you plan on doing here-" Steve was cut off by an infuriated Thor.

"I've come here to put an end to Loki's schemes!" He roared, clutching his hammer tightly.

"Then prove it. Put the hammer down." Steve tried. Rory raised an eyebrow, seeing this ending less than pleasurably. _Especially_ with Tony Stark in the mix.

"Uh, yeah, NO. Bad call! He loves his h-" Thor swung his hammer right in Tony's abdomen, launching the Iron Man across the forest once more. Rory sighed, and shook her head in disbelief.

'_Tony's mouth could possibly be one of the worst weapons known to man.'_

"You want me to put the hammer down!" Thor yelled back to Steve. Rory's eyes widened when she realized what the god was going to do.

"Steve!" She called, running towards him. It all seemingly happened in slow motion. Thor jumped up to give a mighty swing with his hammer as Steve positioned his shield. Rory was running towards the two, but she wouldn't make it in time. The hammer came down with a prodigious sound of metal on metal. The reaction from the Vibranium that made up Steve's shield knocked Rory and Thor off of their feet, and cleared a good twenty yards of the forestry. Once Rory regained her stance she was glad to see that Steve was remarkably unscathed. The others clambered back up and looked around in slight astonishment.

Rory finally broke the silence, "Well… Are we done here?"

* * *

Soon the crew regrouped on the Quinjet, and they flew back to the helicarrier. Loki was escorted by a small troupe of armed guards to his holding cell (which Rory had the inkling that it was supposed to be for someone else), and was to be guarded at all times. The smug look on his face as he walked the halls did not bode well with Rory. Director Fury began his demonstration of Loki's cage, an attempt to strike fear into the god, Rory supposed, and a fruitless cause in her opinion. The man simply looked like he wanted to be there. Steve, Thor, Bruce, and Rory were gathered on the bridge to watch the video feed of Loki and Fury. Once Fury made a smart remark about 'real power' and walked out they cut off the feed.

"He really grows on you doesn't he?" Bruce asked, crossing his arms with a smirk. Rory snorted at the comment. Steve, strictly business, began questioning Thor.

"He's gonna drag this out, so," he looked up to the god, "Thor, what's his play?" Brooding in his thoughts, Thor finally spoke up.

"He has an army called the Chitauri. They are not of Asgard, nor of any world I know. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the Earth; in return, I suspect, for the tesseract."

. . .

"Aliens… From outer space." In Steve's time this idea was something that was just coming to the forefront of entertainment, but was still as farfetched as fairies and unicorns. It was something out of a book, not something that could really happen. Then again, the mere thought of the_ people_ in this room sounds like something out of a story book… Rory nodded, understanding his point of view. They didn't ponder on that fact for too long because Bruce brought up a very legitimate point.

"So he's building another portal? That's what he needs Eric Selvig for…"

"Erik Selvig?" Thor inquired. Rory was also curious as to who the man was. All she's heard of the man were whispers of his name on the carrier.

"He's an astrophysicist." Bruce explained.

"He's a friend." Thor said, disconcerted. Rory felt a pang of sadness in her heart for Thor once she understood what had happened. Loki seemed like the type to hit home with the damage he causes.

"Loki has him under some kind of spell," Natasha shifted uncomfortably, "Along with one of ours." Rory glanced at Natasha and knew at once what was happening between her and her 'colleague'.

'_You would think spies would know how to hide emotions a little better.'_

"I wanna know why Loki let us take him." Steve spoke up again, "He's not leading an army from here."

"I don't think we should be focusing on Loki. That guys' brain is a bag full of cats; you could smell crazy on him." Rory snickered at Bruce's comment.

"I care for how you speak," Thor didn't seem to think it as funny, "Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard, and he is my brother."

"He killed eighty people in two days." Natasha glared.

"… He's adopted." Rory bit back another laugh.

'_How was no one else finding this amusing?'_

Bruce steered the crowd back on subject, "Iridium. What did they need iridium for?"

"It's a stabilizing agent." Tony interjected, just now walking into the room. He was dressed in a very expensive looking suit, and was talking about taking his private jet somewhere with Agent Coulson. Once he was done he returned his attention to the group.

"It means the portal won't collapse on itself like it did at S.H.E.I.L.D. No hard feelings point-break, you've got a mean swing." Tony walked passed Thor and pat him on the shoulder, "Also, means the portal can open as wide, and stay open as long as Loki wants." Tony began commanding some the agents to bring up things on the computers and such until he called out a man for playing Galaga.

"That man is playing Galaga!" He pointed accusingly, "Thought we wouldn't notice… But we did." He proceeded to gawp at one of the many screens on the bridge. He covered one eye, and peered at them once more.

"How does Fury even see these?" He continued his random ravings.

"He turns." Agent Hill deadpanned.

"Sounds exhausting… The rest of the raw materials Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. Only major component he still needs is a major power source of high energy density. Something to… kick-start the cube."

"When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" Agent Hill asked with a sneer. Even though Rory wasn't exactly fond of Tony's antics, she never would've acted the way this woman did. She was downright rude.

"Last night." Tony quipped back, "The packet. Selvig's notes. Extraction theory papers. Am I the only one who did the readings?"

"Did Loki need any particular kind of power source?" Rory input her question before Tony could inflate his ego any further.

"He'd have to heat the cube to 120 million Kelvin just to break through the cooling barrier." Bruce spoke up. Rory could see his wheels turning once more.

"Unless he figured out how to stabilize the quantum tumult effect." Tony continued. It was honestly _sickening_ how these two could understand each other.

"Well if he could do that he could achieve heavy ion fusion in any reactor on the planet." Bruce said jokingly. Rory was at a complete loss. She looked around the room to find she was not the only one.

"Finally. Someone who speaks English." Tony bantered.

"Is that what just happened?" Steve asked. Rory was glad she wasn't the only one utterly confused. Tony approached Bruce and shook his hand.

"Not Tony's mouth. Anything but Tony's mouth…" She whispered to herself, watching the two before her.

"It's good to meet you Dr. Banner. Your work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled," Rory looked at Tony, astonished, "And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage-monster." She realized her hope was for naught as she put her face in her palm.

"And there goes his damned mouth." She sighed.

"Thanks…" Bruce really didn't know how to respond. At that moment Nick Fury glided into the room.

"Dr. Banner is only here to help track the cube." Fury berated Tony, "I was hoping you might join him."

"I'd start with that stick of his. It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a Hydra weapon." Steve spoke up.

"I don't know about that, but it is powered by the cube. And I'd like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys."

"Monkeys?" Thor questioned, "I do not understand…"

"I do!" Steve said a little too enthusiastically. Rory coughed awkwardly while Tony rolled his eyes, "I understood that reference."

"Shall we play, doctor?" Tony asked Bruce. He nodded and they dismissed themselves from the bridge. With a sigh Rory stood too, and put a hand on Steve's shoulder.

"Let's go for a round in the gym, Steve." She offered. He nodded and stood from his seat, and began making his way towards the exit. Rory looked over to Thor who looked completely out of place aboard the ship.

"Thor." She called; he turned his attention to her, "Would you like to join us?" A small smile etched its way on to his face. He nodded, and followed the two to the training deck below.

* * *

"It's so hard, Rory," Steve grunted, throwing a punch at her. Rory deftly side-stepped his punch, and threw one of her own into his side. He winced, but swiftly regained his composure, "Trying to relate to these people is ridiculous!" He next threw a series of punches at her, all of which she barely dodged, until he caught her off-guard with a kick to the abdomen. The force launched her backwards, but she recovered with a back-flip back into a fighting stance.

"That was a good one." She commended. During their sparring time Steve had chosen to use it as a therapy with Rory playing Doctor. Not that she minded, Rory knew everyone needed to let off some steam every now and then, "But don't try so hard, Steve. You've got nothing to prove to them, and we all know we'd be pretty fucked up if we were to suddenly wake up seventy years in the future. You're dealing quite admirably, I might add." Deciding that this session was over, Rory skillfully dropped to the floor and spun her leg through Steve's, knocking him off his feet and to the ground. She quickly straddled him and pinned his arms to his sides. Steve was completely taken by surprise.

"You've gotten better." He stated breathlessly.

"Seventy years'll do that to you," She responded with a smirk. She clambered off of Steve and helped him to his feet, "And I think Thor might know a thing or two about not being able to relate. I think you two could really get along." Rory turned to address the god as well. He had been standing on the sidelines awaiting his turn to spar. He looked at Steve, then back to Rory.

"I believe you are a wise woman, Lady Rory, and I believe it would be unwise to disregard your thoughts. If you say we can get along, I trust you." Rory smiled at the man, silently thanking him. Steve nodded in agreement.

"Well that is absolutely marvelous. I say let's go get a round of drinks." Rory said, with a twinkle of mischief in her eyes. Thor looked slightly disappointed.

"After I spar with you, of course." She gave the god an award-winning smile.

"Thank you, Lady Rory." Thor said gratefully. She could tell the man really needed to let off some steam. As Thor made his way to the raised platform that served as a boxing ring, Steve walked to the door.

"I'll go clean myself up. See you at the bar." Steve disappeared behind the doors. Rory returned her attention to Thor. He now seemed to reconsider the situation.

"I do not wish to hurt you, Lady Rory." He began. Rory smiled at him, and shook her head.

"You can't hurt me Thor. I'm indestructible." Thor eyed her wearily.

"How so?" He queried.

"I'm made entirely of a metal. Nothing can hurt me." She explained.

"So is the metal man, and I seemed to have damaged him quite a bit."

"Yes, but my metal is a bit stronger than Tony's." Rory snorted. She was under the vague assumption that the basic idea of the suit came from Rory's blueprints, though Tony would never admit that.

"If you are sure, Lady Rory…"

Rory smirked; she had been itching to spar with Thor since she had seen the fight between him and Tony.

"I'm positive." With that being said, Thor launched himself at Rory. She could tell he was testing the waters, going far easier than he needed to just in case he hurt Rory. Almost twenty minutes had passed before Rory suspected he was going at her with everything he had.

"You are very strong Lady Rory. I admit I did not believe your abilities at first." Thor said as they had each other locked at arms-length. Rory knew she could easily over-power him, but there was no need for damaging his ego.

"I noticed." She smirked. The two stood there struggling for a moment more, before Thor went in for a head-butt. Rory stood her ground. His head collided with hers, and Rory didn't even flinch. Thor took a step back from the contact, damaging himself far more than he had imagined with that stunt. He held his head, and Rory could see a knot forming already. She winced.

"I should've warned you about that one…" She apologized. Thor laughed, finding the situation amusing.

"It is not your fault, Lady Rory. Worry not, I am well." He stated, and they continued fighting.

"So why are you here, Thor?" Rory asked, now trying to play therapist with Thor. He threw a punch which she ducked.

"Once we learned on Asgard that Loki had arrived here my father sent me to get Loki along with the tesseract. Loki is my brother, and I suspect he is here because of me." Thor explained; sadness tinged his voice. Another fist came her way; she grabbed his arm mid swing and pulled herself forward. Using her momentum she spun and kneed Thor in the back.

"Why would he come to Midguard though?" Rory continued. Thor faked left, and Rory instinctively moved, to be met with Thor's right fist in the face. The blow made her stumble backwards, but she was grinning. Thor was unsure if he should continue after a hit like that, but she gave him an encouraging nod. The two began going at each other again.

"The Earth is under my protection, and I have many dear friends here. I believe Loki wants to hurt me by capturing them."

"I see. But why is he so indignant towards you in the first place?"

"I do not fully understand Loki's wrath myself. While I was here on Earth Loki ruled Asgard. He was not meant to be king, and he did not want me to return. He sent the Destroyer to kill me at the time when I was weakest, but thanks to Jane Foster and Erik Selvig I was able to regain my powers and defeat it. After that I returned to Asgard to find it run asunder by Loki, who was going to kill all of Jotunheim with the Bifrost. I had to stop it, so I broke the Rainbow Bridge… Loki… I tried to save him. Why did he let go?"

During Thor's monologue the two had stopped sparring, and Thor was sitting on the ground looking absolutely broken. Rory sat beside the man and rubbed his back. She was used to playing mother; she was old enough to be everyone's grandmother on this ship.

"It's alright Thor. In time everything will work out for the best. It always does." Thor nodded, but didn't say anything. Rory figured if she didn't do anything he'd sit there and mope for the rest of the night. She sighed, and forcefully picked him up by the arm.

"Come on, Thor. Don't forget about our date with the Cap. Drinks always make everything better." Rory assured with a grin. Thor gave her a half-hearted smile, and nodded in compliance.

"Indeed, Lady Rory, drinks perform wonders."

* * *

Twenty minutes later the trio reassembled at the small bar on board the helicarrier. Rory sat Thor and Steve down.

"First round is on me guys. Now chatter amongst yourselves." Rory commanded with a small smile. They both nodded and Rory walked to the bartender.

"I'll need two of the strongest thing you've got, sir. It's been a tough day." Rory said with a chuckle. The man nodded understandingly. He disappeared for a moment, then reappeared with two glasses of an unknown drink.

"Thanks man." She nodded, and walked back to the table with Thor and Steve. They were making small talk when she arrived, but that was better than nothing. Rory slid them the drinks once she sat down.

"Here you go. Bottoms up, boys."

"Lady Rory, do you not wish to drink with us?" Thor asked, noticing she didn't have one of her own.

"I can't taste things, and I can't get drunk. So it'd be rather pointless." Rory informed him. Thor looked disheartened.

"I apologize, Lady Rory. That is a truly awful thing." Rory snorted.

"Nah, I still remember everything the next morning when you two wake up stark naked and in a strangers room." Thor let out a hardy laugh at Rory's statement. She then noticed Steve wasn't saying much.

"What's wrong Stevie?" She prodded him with her elbow. He shrugged.

"Because of the serum I can't get drunk either. It's just reminding me of the last time I tried…" Rory's mind flashed back to the condolence letter she received for James Barnes. Bucky had been Steve's best friend, and to be so close, and then have him slip away…

"Steve, I have a working theory," Rory changed the subject off of his departed friend, "That you can indeed get hammered. You have the metabolism of four men. So, you have to drink four times the booze. Let's give it a shot." She said with a wink. Rory disappeared, and soon reappeared with a whole bottle of what they had been drinking. After pouring Thor another glass, she handed over the bottle to Steve, who looked astonished.

"Drink up, Cap."

* * *

**Wheeeee~! And that's the end of Chapter 2. I must say, I'm going through this movie pretty quick. I want to draw this out, make it detailed and everything, y'know? But dang. Oh well, I guess it's a long chapter, so you guys'll survive. Hopefully I'll put up the next one tomorrow. Or the day after... Or when I'm done writing it in general.**

**Anyway, if you've got ideas, write a review, or shoot me a message. They mean the world to me! EverRose808 and Qwerty1231, thank you both for your reviews. They made me smile~ To EverRose's comment: I plan on making Rory get a suit of her own at one point. She's just without one for the moment. She used to have a military uniform, but she's retired, and she's not a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, so she doesn't get the skintight bodysuit. I dunno. Maybe Stark will cook up something nice for her. **

**So that's all folks! I'll see you again next time! REVIEW! :D**

**-VA**


	3. Chapter 3

**WHELP. Here's Chapter 3. Erm. Not much to say. Other than you guys are SERIOUSLY stingy with reviews. I don't know if you guys realize how inspiring it is for us writers when you review. Really, it is glorious and I have a happy dance everytime I get one. I really want your input, y'know? So. Please review! With that said, here's the next chapter...**

* * *

As the night went on Rory's theory was proven correct. Steve had to drink obscene amounts of liquor, but he could indeed get drunk. And drunken Steve was a hilarious sight. Once he has loosened up he and Thor were getting along great, talking about God knows what in their intoxicated stupor. Rory was right there laughing along with them until she heard her earpiece beep, and the voice of Nick Fury.

"Bionica." He said sternly.

"Yes, Director?" She responded, still giggling at the two's antics.

"I need you on the bridge in five minutes." Rory sighed.

"Yes sir, I'll be there." She said standing from her seat. The two noticed her beginning to leave and Thor called out for her.

"Lady Rory!" He slurred, "Where are you going?"

"Fury needs to see me boys. I suggest it's about time you call it quits yourself, unless you want an excruciating headache in the morning." They nodded and gave some half-hearted response, and Rory walked out.

It took her exactly five minutes to make her way to the bridge, which made Rory wonder if Fury had planned her every movement. S.H.I.E.L.D. would waste time doing something like that.

"Director Fury." Rory called his attention. He turned to face her, then motioned her to follow him.

"As you are aware, Loki is being imprisoned here and is to be guarded at all times."

"Yes sir, I'm aware."

"Since you don't need sleep, and you're one of the sharpest people on board that I trust, I am sentencing you to his night watch. I want you to use your tactical mind and see if you can find out anything about his planned invasion of the Earth. Use whatever means you deem necessary." Rory nodded. The rest of the walk was in silence. They soon reached the holding cell which contained Loki.

"Remember he is the god of mischief and lies, Hart. Don't fall for anything he says." Rory nodded, and Fury brusquely walked away. Rory walked through the threshold, and saw an agent sitting there, looking half-scared and half-asleep. Rory came up behind him silently and tapped him on the shoulder. The agent jumped in surprise. Rory frowned.

"I'm here to relieve you." She said abruptly. The man nodded gratefully, and quickly walked out of the room.

"Pathetic." Rory turned to Loki with a raised eyebrow.

"Pardon?" She asked, claiming the seat the frightened agent was previously sitting in.

"That human," He clarified, "It took me no less than ten minutes to invade his mind and frighten him. I do hope you will be better company." Loki said haughtily. Rory rolled her eyes.

"Because it'd be a downright shame if I wasn't." She said sarcastically, propping her feet up on the command board. Loki looked at her feet curiously.

"Why do you not wear shoes, wench?" He asked, slightly repulsed. Rory looked at her feet, then back to Loki.

"Because I don't like them, _prisoner_." Rory retorted with equal fervor. He glared at her, and took a seat on the bench in his barren holding cell.

An hour of silence passed, and Rory was getting restless, to the point where even Loki noticed.

"Human, would you sit still! You're distracting!" He yelled at her. In a futile attempt to piss him off Rory stood up, jumped around, and then reclaimed her seat.

"Are you proud of yourself?" Loki sneered.

"Damn right I am." Rory shot back. She glanced at her watch. Time was slinking by, and she'd go mad if she didn't find something to occupy herself with.

"Do you play chess?" Rory asked suddenly. Loki looked momentarily surprised, but he quickly regained his composure.

"Better than you can, human." He shot. Rory rolled her eyes, and over the ear piece ordered in a chess set. Five minutes later a red-faced agent came scrambling in with a very nice looking chess set.

"Here you are General Hart." He said, then turned, and rushed back out of the room. Rory was confused, but saw Loki looking very smug inside his cage.

"Quit terrorizing the agents." Rory scolded, picking up the chess board and walking to the control panel. She pushed a few buttons and opened the door to the cell. Loki was surprised when she walked in and began setting up the game on the floor. The door immediately shut behind Rory.

"What are you doing?" He asked, eyeing her suspiciously. Rory rolled her eyes.

"We're playing chess, dumbass."

Loki cautiously approached the game board and, after deeming it was safe, he sat down across from Rory.

"I will not go easy on you because you are a woman." Loki said arrogantly. Rory snorted.

"Then I won't go easy on you because you're an insolent little child." Loki glared at her and Rory looked smug.

"Your move, reindeer games."

* * *

An hour quickly passed and the two were just now finishing their first game. Rory had judged right, Loki was an exceptional player, but simply not better than her. From his reaction Rory could tell he wasn't used to losing.

"You manipulated this game!" He shouted, infuriated. Rory sat back, watching his antics, amused.

"I'm just better than you." Rory stated with a smirk.

"Lies! I went easy on you-"

"Even though you warned me you wouldn't?" She cut him off. Loki shot a glare at her.

"Set up another game, woman. I will be the victor this time." He stuck his nose in the air as he spoke. Rory rolled her eyes.

"Whatever you say 'my king'." She said, dripping sarcasm.

* * *

The hours ticked by with Loki growing more and more irate with each game he lost. He stopped speaking altogether, and began focusing entirely on the chess pieces before him. The two played all through the night without saying another word to each other until the next agent came in to watch Loki.

"General Hart, I'm here to relieve you…" He said, suddenly realizing that she was in the cell with Loki.

"I'll be right there!" She called to him. Rory moved a piece and looked on the board with satisfaction, "Checkmate. I'll see you again tonight, kid." Rory snorted. She walked to the door and told the agent to open it.

"But what if Loki-"

"Son, just do what I say." She turned to Loki, "Try to escape and I will personally hunt you down, shoot you in the kneecaps, and slowly pull out every one of your fingernails. Got it?" Rory steely threatened. He looked amused, but said nothing. The door opened and Rory stepped out, with the door shutting behind her. Walking out of the room she pat the agent on the back.

"Have fun, kiddo."

* * *

Rory made her way to the mess hall and ran into Tony on the way there.

"Morning, princess." He greeted with his usual charm. Rory smiled and rolled her eyes.

"Good morning, Tony. How is the search for the tesseract coming?" The two entered the mess hall and made their way to grab their breakfast.

"Good, good. We expect to find it later today." Tony said distractedly. Rory eyed him.

"Something on your mind, Stark?" She asked, elbowing him in the side. He stopped and looked at Rory in the eyes, seemingly pondering something. A whole minute passed before he said anything.

"Nope, nothing." He brusquely said, and began walking again. Rory rolled her eyes.

"Whatever you say, Tony."

* * *

After breakfast Rory went with Tony and Bruce to their lab. Tony insisted she come to keep Bruce company, but she just figured Tony needed someone he could relentlessly harass. Inside the lab Bruce had been scanning Loki's spear with some sort of machine that picked up on gamma radiation. Rory wasn't paying too much attention; she was focused on her book. She began tuning into their conversation once she heard Tony invite Bruce to Stark Tower.

"Thanks, but the last time I was in New York I kinda broke… Harlem." Rory giggled at Bruce's comment.

"Well, I promise a stress-free environment," Rory's 'Tony's Doing Something Stupid' senses began tingling as he continued, "No tension. No surprises." Tony suddenly poked Bruce with the pointy object he had been holding, and leaned in closer, trying to gauge any reaction Bruce had.

"Ow!" Bruce jumped, and looked at Tony in disbelief.

"Hey!" Rory heard Steve's voice coming from the doorway, "Are you nuts?" He asked, appalled.

"You really have got a lid on it, haven't you? What's your secret? Bongo drums, huge bag of weed?"

"Is everything a joke to you?" Steve scolded Tony. Rory rolled her eyes. Scolding Tony was as fruitless as telling a brick wall to jump over a pond.

"Funny things." Tony clarified.

"Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny. No offense, doctor." Steve nodded to Bruce.

"No, no, it's alright. I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle pointy things." Bruce chuckled.

"You're tip-toeing big man!" Tony said, as if he was on the verge of something great, "You need to strut."

"And you need to focus on the problem, Mr. Stark."

"You think I'm not?" Tony sounded shocked, "Why did Fury call us in, why _now_? Why not before? What isn't he telling us? I can't do the equation unless I have all of the variables." Rory agreed with Tony, she had known all-along that S.H.I.E.L.D. had been up to something, but she wasn't sure of what exactly it was yet.

"You think Fury's hiding something?" Steve asked, though Rory could tell it had been weighing on his mind too.

"He's a spy, Captain, he's _the_ spy! His secrets have secrets." Tony popped a blueberry in his mouth, "It's bugging them too!" He said, pointing to Rory and Bruce. Steve looked to Bruce.

"Uhhhm… I just wanna finish my work here…"

"Doctor?" Steve prodded on. Bruce sighed.

"A warm light for all mankind. Loki's jab at Fury about the cube."

"I heard it." Steve nodded.

"Well, I think that was meant for you." Bruce pointed to Tony. Tony nodded approvingly, and offered him a blueberry. Bruce shrugged and took one, "Even if Barton didn't tell him, it's been all over the news."

"Stark Tower? That big ugly-" Tony looked at Steve, cutting him off, "Building in New York?"

"It's powered by the arc reactor, a self-sustaining energy source. It'll run itself for what? A year?" Bruce looked to Tony.

"It's just the prototype." He said smugly, "I'm kinda the only name in clean energy right now." Rory rolled her eyes.

"So, why didn't S.H.I.E.L.D. bring him in on the tesseract project? What are they doing in the energy business in the first place?"

"I should probably look into that. As soon as my decryption program finishes breaking in to all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secure files…" Tony said, pulling out a small computer from his pocket and checking it.

"I'm sorry, did you say-"

"J.A.R.V.I.S. has been running it since we hit the bridge. In a few hours I'll know every dirty secret S.H.I.E.L.D. has ever tried to hide. Blueberry?" Tony offered Steve.

"And you're confused about why they didn't want you around." Rory frowned. She could see this conversation turning bad, fast.

"An intelligence organization that _fears_ intelligence? Historically not awesome."

"I think Loki's trying to wind us up. This is a man who means to start a war, and if we don't stay focused he'll succeed. We have orders. We should follow them."

"Following's not really my style." Tony stated matter-of-factly while popping a blueberry in his mouth.

"And you're all about style, aren't you?" Steve sneered.

"Of the people in this room which one is not A, wearing a spangley outfit, B, not a fuse, or C, not decked in 80's wear?" Rory glared at the back of Tony's head.

"Steve, don't tell me none of this smells a little funky to you?" Bruce said, agreeing with Tony.

"Just find the cube." Steve said and stormed off. Once the doors shut behind Steve Rory picked up a pencil and threw it at Tony's head.

"My clothes aren't that bad!" She complained. Tony raised his eyebrow at her.

"Dear, once this all blows over I'm taking you shopping. Just because you don't gain any weight doesn't mean you don't need to by new clothes every decade or so." Tony said sarcastically. Rory childishly stuck her tongue out at him.

"You'd think she's twelve, not ninety-one." Tony exclaimed mockingly to Bruce. Bruce chuckled, shaking his head.

"I'm not going to get into this with you Tony. She could kill us both in our sleep." Bruce cracked with a smile. Rory grinned at him.

"You're damn right." She threatened, pointing to Tony. He waved her off and began working on his science things again. Rory rolled her eyes and became enthralled in her book once more. She was contentedly engrossed in her book until a beeping emerged from Tony's back pocket. Rory looked up, confused at the sound.

"Ah, that would be my decryption program. Let's take a look, shall we?" Tony offered, sitting on a table. Rory nodded, curious as well. She took a seat beside him, and Bruce took the spot on the other side. Tony scrolled through several of the files until he came upon the tesseract project. He clicked the file and opened it.

"Oh. My. God."

* * *

"What are you doing Mr. Stark?" An angry Nick Fury stormed into the lab.

"I've been kinda wandering the same about you." Tony retorted.

"You're supposed to be locating the tesseract."

"Yeah, we've got the signature locked, and once we get a hit we'll be on it within half a mile." Bruce said, pointing to the computer.

"What is 'Phase 2'?" Tony inquired. At that moment Steve walked in, holding what Rory recognized as a Hydra weapon.

"Phase Two is S.H.I.E.L.D. uses the cube to make weapons." Steve stated, obviously angry, "Sorry. Your computer was running a little slow for me."

"Rogers, we gathered everything related to the tesseract, this does not mean-"

"I'm sorry!" Tony interrupted, pulling a computer screen around. It showed a diagram of a nuclear weapon, "What were you lying about?"

"I was wrong; the world hasn't changed a bit." Steve spat.

"Did you know about this?" Bruce asked Natasha, whom was just walking into the room with Thor.

"You wanna think about removing yourself from this environment, Doctor?" She asked, avoiding his question.

"I was in Calcutta, I was pretty well removed." Bruce sneered.

"Loki's been manipulating you." Natasha tried to explain.

"And you're doing what exactly?" Everything suddenly clicked inside Rory's head.

_'The spear… It's still in Loki's control.' _Rory thought to herself, eyeing the weapon. As the tension rose in the room, so did the light emanating from the spear.

_'Okay, mind control. Mind control… Loki can't control my mind because it's covered in metal. This needs to calm down.' _Scenarios ran through Rory's mind at lightning speed, situation after situation to calm this down without having Bruce hulk-out, or someone start a dangerous fight. It wasn't possible. Not now. The friction in the room had risen too much to be put out.

_'This is just what Loki wanted.'_ Rory realized, _'We played _right_ into his hand! How did I not see this?'_ Rory was about to yell at the group when she was snapped out of her thoughts by the sight of Bruce holding Loki's spear.

"Bruce," She began calmly, "Put down the scepter." He looked down, as if he didn't realize he was holding it. He opened his mouth to say something, but the computer beeped, signaling the cube had been found. Bruce tossed the spear on the table, and approached the computer. The group began arguing again, and Rory found herself wanting to slap them all for their idiocy, when a huge explosion went off below them. The force was great enough to knock everyone off their feet. Natasha and Bruce had been knocked to a lower level, and Steve and Tony ran off to get Tony suited up. Fury began assessing the damage over his earpiece.

"Hart!" He barked. Rory's head shot up as she looked him square in the eye, "Get to the bridge, I need you at tactical!" He commanded. With a swift nod, Rory was off. In just a few minutes Rory was on the bridge shouting orders to the panicking agents.

"Settle down! Man your positions! Tell me what the hell the damage is here!" She commanded. Agent Hill's was the first voice she heard.

"The explosion came from the third engine. It's completely down!" Hill responded.

"We can't make the repairs in the air!" An agent from somewhere else in the room shouted. Rory made sure her earpiece was on.

"Hear that Tony? Get out there and fix engine three!"

"I'm on it, love." Tony responded coolly.

"General, we've got a security breach near the prisoner's holding cell!" An agent shouted. Rory's eyebrows furrowed. The agent Loki kidnapped, Barton. It had to have been him. She sat back in a seat in the middle of the chaos.

"Agent Coulson." Rory called to the man, "Move the prisoner Loki to an alternative holding cell. We cannot afford to lose him." Coulson nodded, and took off for Loki's cell.

"Folks, we need this flying piece of tin over water, now!"

"The navigation system is down, ma'am." An agent responded. She looked at him incredulously.

"Son... Is the sun out?" She asked calmly, rubbing her temples.

"Y-yes." He faltered.

"Then put us on the left!" She shouted, losing her cool. These are specialized agents; shouldn't they know what to do in a situation like this? Another agent ran up to Rory.

"Ma'am, the Hulk's loose on board, he'll destroy the entire ship!" Rory nodded, expecting as much.

"Send out a plane; engage the Hulk, but do not, I repeat, do _not_ get too close. Draw him out of the carrier and do it now." The agent scurried off to relay the message. As soon as Rory sat back to assess the damage a grenade was thrown into the room.

"Grenade!" Agent Hill shouted, and everyone ducked for cover. Rory shielded her eyes. It seemed the grenade was more of a distraction than anything, because at that moment armed men began filing in, and shooting at anything that moved. Rory calmly approached the men, and one opened fire on her. He rattled off a good chunk of bullets at her, most ricocheted off of her body while a few became embedded in Rory's synthetic skin. She looked down at the holes in disdain, then back to the man. In one fluid motion she punched him hard enough to split his skull, and knocked out one of the other gunman. Behind her, Rory heard a gunshot go off, and saw a body crumple to the floor. Agent Hill lowered her weapon.

"Nice shot." Rory commended. Just then, a small explosion went off behind them, and Rory caught a glance of Clint in an open duct above. He shot off another arrow before disappearing once more. Rory followed the trail to the arrow to see it was some sort of scrambling device.

"No!" She shouted, but it was too late. The arrow produced a device that inserted into docks in the computer system. All at once the computer monitors shut off, and they lost power to engine one. The helicarrier began tilting as it lost altitude.

"Shit." Rory swore under her breath. She pushed her earpiece, speaking on all of the frequencies.

"Agent Barton took out our systems, and he's headed for the detention levels! Is anyone out there?"

"This is Agent Romanoff. I copy." Rory heard Natasha's voice.

"Good. Romanoff, take care of him by any means necessary." Rory commanded in a steel voice. She then tuned back in to Tony.

"Tony, we're losing altitude and fast."

"Yeah, I noticed." He responded sarcastically, "I'm on it, Rory."

"Alright, Tony. Don't get dead." Rory meant the tone of her voice to come off more as a joke, but she couldn't help the worry that seeped in to it.

"Can't get rid of me that easy, Rores. We'll be flying again in no time." Tony reassured. Rory sighed uneasily and sat back. She had done everything she could; the ball was now in Loki's court.

* * *

"Agent Coulson is down." Rory heard Nick Fury speak over the earpiece. Rory stopped. She remembered she sent him alone to move Loki. Rory gritted her teeth. An agent from the medic bay spoke up.

"We're sending the medic team-"

"They're already here. They called it."

Rory couldn't stop the scornful voice of her guilty conscience in her head.

_'You sent him to his death. How does that make you feel? Are you proud? All by himself, the least you could've done was send a team with him. Move the prisoner? Tch. You knew that wasn't going to happen.'_

"Stop it." Rory whispered, holding her head.

_ 'It's all __**your**__ fault. I thought you were supposed to be a tactical genius. Or does that title just make it okay for you to lose people?'_

"STOP IT!" Rory screamed. She flung a chair across the bridge, which hit a wall and dented it. The chair fell to pieces. Rory slumped to the ground, clutching her head.

* * *

**And there you have it! Chapter three. Nothing much to be said, other than PLEASE review. It makes me smile in my innards. Seriously. Do eet. That is all.**

**-VA**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello all! :D Welcome to Chapter 4 of Bionica! Yaaay! This chapter pretty much sums up the movie, so we start getting into my wondrous imagination next chapter. Teehee. I want to shout out a thanks to TenebrisSagittarius and MoonWarriorLuna for their reviews! You guys made me smile! And keep reviewing guys! It keeps me writing, and since you're here reading this I would imagine you want me to continue writing... So review! And without further ado, Chapter Four~**

* * *

What was left of the group was sitting at the metal table on the bridge. It consisted of Tony, Steve, and Rory. The two assassins were elsewhere aboard the ship, with the hopes of finding out something of use from Barton's newly recalibrated mind.

"These were in Phil Coulson's jacket," Fury was holding a set of bloodied Captain America cards. He threw them on the table in front of Steve, "I guess he never did get you to sign them." Rory clenched her jaw and she felt her muscles contract. She knew what this was, and as much as it pained her, Steve needed this push. They all did.

"Yes, we were going to build an arsenal with the tesseract!" Fury admitted, "I never put all my chips on that number though, 'cause I was playing something even riskier… There was an idea - Stark knows this – called The Avengers Initiative. The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people… To see if they could become something more. To see if they could work together when we needed them to. To fight the battles we never could." Fury turned to look at Tony, and Tony turned his head away in what Rory could only assume was disgust, "Phil Coulson died still believing in that idea. In heroes." Tony abruptly stood up and walked out of the room. Fury turned to Steve and Rory.

"… It's an old-fashioned notion." Rory violently stood from her seat, knocking her chair over in the process, and walked out of the room too. Steve shortly followed the girl.

"Rory-Hey, Rory!" Steve called, trying to keep up with the fuming woman. She wasn't heeding his calls, "LORELEI!" Rory abruptly stopped, but did not turn to face Steve. He jogged to catch up with her.

"Rory, what's with you?" He asked, gently placing his hand on her shoulder. She shrugged it off and began walking again.

"Go away, Steven. I don't want to hurt you." Rory said through gritted teeth as she made her way to the training area below, leaving Steve standing in the middle of the hallway by himself.

* * *

Rory was relentlessly beating a punching bag; an attempt to quell her anger, but having to hold back her strength so as not to terminally destroy the ship made that difficult. In a very Steve-like manner Rory busted the sand-filled punching bag. She was about to hang up another one when an uncharacteristically solemn-faced Tony Stark walked into the room.

"Rory." He said stiffly. Rory couldn't tell if it was in anger, or fear of hers that made him so. She dropped the punching bag with a _thud_.

"What, Stark?" She spat a little more harshly than she had meant, "Now is not a good time to talk to me." Her comment made Tony snap out of whatever haze he was in, and he put on his infamous smirk.

"Save that for Loki, babe. We're on our way to New York now to stop him." Tony crossed his arms and leaned against the doorframe.

"I'm not playing S.H.I.E.L.D.'s puppet anymore, Tony." Tony scoffed.

"And you think I am? Please Rory; I thought you knew me better than that." He feigned disappointment very dramatically. The poor girl couldn't help the smile emerging on her face from Tony's antics. Rory nodded, and the two began walking.

"What's the plan then, Stark?"

"Loki wants to use the tesseract on top of Stark Towers. He's opening the portal today."

"He didn't strike me as one to wait." Rory agreed. Tony raised an eyebrow.

"When did you talk to him?" He inquired, hurt that he didn't know.

"I played watchdog last night. Chess strategy often reveals a lot about people." Rory summed up shortly. Tony nodded, understanding her ploy.

"What else can you tell us?" He questioned further. Mischief twinkled in Rory's eyes while a smirk spread to her face.

"That I can win."

* * *

As a part of the plan Tony went on ahead to confront Loki at Stark Towers. He left Rory to meet up with Steve, Natasha, and the newly reformed Clint Barton. While looking for the group she saw them all suited up and walking with purpose down a corridor. She quickly fell in stride beside Steve.

"Good to have you back, Rory." Steve smiled. Rory smiled at him.

"Sorry for the outburst, dear, much like the 'other guy' things are not pretty when I get angry." Clint looked at her inquisitively.

"Who's this?" He asked. Rory raised an eyebrow.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. keeps files from its own agents? That's slightly disconcerting." Rory said in a joking matter. Natasha shrugged and nodded.

"General Lorelei Hart, Mr. Barton. Pleasure to see you not shooting at us anymore." Rory winked in a true Stark manner. Clint looked away sheepishly.

"Sorry about that." He muttered darkly.

"Worry not, young Mr. Barton! Redemption lies within the death of many alien invaders." Rory responded brightly. Clint looked at the quirky girl incredulously.

"How come I've never met this woman?" He asked in a joking manner to Natasha.

"She's been retired for the last ten years. Fury called her in because he knew you didn't know about her." Natasha responded coolly. That statement caused Clint to look embarrassed once more. Natasha passed over a folded bundle of cloth to Rory, who looked at it questioningly.

"Steve insisted you get a uniform this go around." Rory nodded with a smirk. Upon further examination she found it was part of her Army get up. It consisted of a camouflage pants, black combat boots, and a black tank top.

"What, no hat or jacket? I can't go out in public like this." Rory teased, but nodded to Natasha gratefully.

Clint suddenly spoke up, "Wait a minute… General? Retired for ten years? With all due respect, how the _fuck_ is that possible?" Rory crinkled her nose with a grin.

"It's a long story, son."

* * *

The group had hijacked a quinjet from the helicarrier and was now arriving in New York. Rory looked on at the portal in a cross between awe and horror. It seemed as if the group had arrived to the party a tad late. Thor was fighting it out with Loki atop Stark Towers, while Tony was off trying to blow up as many Chitauri as he could, and the streets below them were utter chaos.

"What, did you stop for drive through?" Tony berated them as the jet took out a stream of Chitauri on his tail. Tony muttered a thanks, and was off. They flew about taking out as many Chitauri as they could when they suddenly spotted Loki on the top of the tower. The jet on Barton's behalf was taking aim on Loki, when he blasted a wing with the scepter.

"Hang tight, we're going down!" Clint yelled, trying to reel in control of the jet. He managed to crash land in an empty parking lot. Rory breathed a sigh of relief as she tossed off her headset and climbed out of the back hatch. The rest followed suit, but stopped to look up at the portal. Another swarm of Chitauri were flying out, along with an unknown, flying monstrosity. Rory gaped at the creature, as did the rest of them.

"Tony, you seeing this?" Rory asked over her newly acquired earpiece.

"Seeing; still working on believing. Has Banner shown up yet?"

"Banner?" Steve asked. Rory rolled her eyes, understanding Tony's brainwave.

"Just keep me posted." Tony said shortly, and he flew off to take care of more Chitauri. As more of the alien race was sweeping in, the less Tony could keep them to the skies. Many of the Chitauri began attacking civilians in the streets.

"Steve, we've got to get the people to safety!" Rory yelled over the chaos.

"My sentiments exactly, Rory!" Steve nodded. The group burst into action, each taking turns holding off the alien forces and moving civilians from the streets. The chaos was spreading, and the New York Police Department had set up a blockade where they were also fighting off Chitauri. Rory motioned for Steve to go to them. With a brief nod he took off, and Rory watched his back as he made his way to the barrier. He began shouting orders to the men, and one of them questioned his authority. At that moment a group of Chitauri assaulted the barrier and Steve effortlessly took them down with the help of his shield. The cop nodded after that and began to dispatch Steve's orders to everyone listening. Rory returned to the fight at hand with Clint and Natasha. Chitauri had begun swarming the three, and it was getting more and more difficult to thin out the hordes. Rory had respected the two agents; they were performing marvelously, and had yet to show signs of fatigue.

_'That can only last so long.'_ Rory morbidly thought to herself. She had to force her mind into its tactical mode; the aliens were too coordinated to be attacking at random and she needed to find the patterns. Thankfully, Steve jumped back in to help take care of Chitauri while Rory was occupying her mind. Thor too dropped in, frying some of the aliens on his way down.

"What's the news upstairs?" Steve asked him.

"The power surrounding the cube is impenetrable." Thor panted. He looked like he had seen better days, and Rory noticed a small gash in his stomach. The trickster, no doubt, had been the cause.

"Thor's right, we gotta deal with these guys." They heard Tony over their earpieces.

"How do we do this?" Natasha asked while reloading her guns. By this time Rory had formulated somewhat of a plan.

"As a team." She answered, emphasizing the word 'team'.

"I have unfinished business with Loki." Thor declared.

"Yeah? Get in line." Clint said, adjusting some of his arrows.

"Settle down. Loki's going to keep this fight focused on us, and that's what we need right now. Tony, I need you up top, keep to the-" Rory was cut off by the sound of an approaching motorcycle. She turned, and smiled when she saw Bruce.

"So, this all seems… horrible." He said with a small smirk.

"I've seen worse." Natasha said.

"Sorry."

"No… We could use a little worse." She responded with a small smile of her own.

"Hey Tony, he's here." Rory informed him over the comm.

"Good. Tell him to suit up – I'm bringing the party to you." At that moment Tony flew around the block, and the colossal flying beast followed him close behind.

"I don't see how that's a party…" Natasha said in awe. Steve stepped forward.

"Dr. Banner. Now might be a really good time for you to get angry."

"That's my secret, Captain," He glanced back at them, "I'm always angry." In a remarkable transformation Dr. Bruce Banner turned into the Hulk, and proceeded to smash the beast that was coming at them. Rory nodded appreciatively. The Avengers regrouped in a small circle, preparing themselves for the next round of the battle. Suddenly, two more flying creatures, along with many Chitauri, came out of the portal.

"Guys…" Natasha said, looking at the oncoming invasion.

"Okay, until we can close the portal we _need_ containment," Rory began, "Barton, I want you on the roofs, keep your eyes open for patterns and strays-"

"Stark, you take perimeter," Steve understood Rory's train of thought and continued for her, "If anything gets more than three blocks out turn it back or turn it to ash!"

"Give me a lift?" Clint asked.

"Better clench up, Legolas." Tony grabbed Clint and the two were off.

"Thor, you've gotta slow them down at the portal. Use your lightning and light the bastards up." Rory continued. With a mighty swing of his hammer, Thor was off too.

"We need to stay on the ground – keep the fighting here." Rory concluded. Steve turned to Hulk.

"And Hulk!" He called, "Smash." The brute grinned at Steve, and leapt off, taking down countless Chitauri.

* * *

The fight commenced wondrously, and with the team finally working together they actually stood a semblance of a chance.

"Captain, General, this isn't going to mean a damn thing if we don't close that portal." Natasha said, panting.

"Nothing can penetrate the cube though." Rory mused out loud.

"Maybe it's not guns we need…" Natasha responded. Rory's eyes widened, catching her drift. Steve caught it too.

"If you wanna get up there you're gonna need a ride." Steve said.

"I've got a ride." Natasha began stepping away from Steve, "I could use a lift though." She said, preparing herself.

"You sure about this?"

"Yeah," Natasha didn't seem too convinced, "It's gonna be fun." With that said Natasha raced towards Steve as he held out his shield to hoist her in the air. Natasha caught on to a flier that had just gone by.

"Just us, Steve." Rory said with a smirk, looking at the oncoming aliens. He smirked back at her.

"Reminds you of the good ol' days?" He asked, as they took fighting stances back-to-back.

"Nah, never kicked this much ass in the good ol' days." Rory launched herself at a group of the creatures, and began beating them relentlessly. It was a good form of anger management, and Rory figured it would do wonders to her stress levels if she beat up aliens every day.

* * *

The team had fought admirably, but it appeared that the alien force was not short of warriors. It seemed whenever someone took out one of the Chitauri, four more would emerge.

"Natasha, what's your status? It's getting a little crowded down here!" Steve had run off to save a small bank where the Chitauri had a group of civilians cornered, momentarily leaving the streets to Rory.

"Loki's scepter! We can use it to turn off the cube!"

"Then do it!" Rory yelled incredulously.

"Working on it!" Natasha responded, irritated. Rory focused back on the Chitauri when Steve and Thor regrouped with her. Lightning, shields, and bullets were flying in every which direction, but the Chitauri were too vast in number. Steve got hit by a blast from one of their guns. Rory quickly made a cadaver out of the alien, and rushed to Steve's side. He steadily stood himself up, obviously fatigued by now.

"Ready for another bout?" Thor bellowed. Rory gave him props for being inspiring, but she could see he too was getting tired.

"What, you sleepy yet?" Steve quipped back to the man with a smile. Over the comm Rory heard Natasha's voice.

"We've got the scepter. It's breaking the barrier, I can shut it off! Can anybody hear me?"

"Do it!" Steve shouted.

"No, wait!" Tony's voice emerged.

"Stark, these things are still coming!"

"I've got a nuke coming in, and it's gonna blow in less than a minute… And I know just where to put it." Rory's eyes widened and she bit her lip.

"Stark… You know that's a one way trip." Steve said solemnly.

"Save the rest for the return, okay?" Tony latched on to the missile, and ran it up the Stark Tower. He was heading right for the portal, when he suddenly disappeared in to it.

"Tony!" Rory's voice was hoarse, and she knew if she could produce tears, she'd be bawling right now. She turned to Steve and hugged him tightly in a vain attempt to comfort herself. The explosion from the nuke demolished the Chitauri's mother ship, and as it did all of the Chitauri on Earth shut down as well. They waited for Tony to fall back through the portal, but the nuclear explosion was drawing nearer and nearer to them.

"Close it up." Steve hoarsely commanded. Nothing was said, but Rory assumed Natasha did what she was told and the portal began closing in on itself. Rory choked out a noise of sorrow, as she watched the gateway collapse. At the very last moment she could see a lonesome figure fall out of the sky.

"Tony?" She wondered breathlessly.

"Son of a gun…" Steve smirked. Rory's eyes widened when she realized he wasn't stopping.

"He's not slowing down!" She cried. Thor was about to launch himself towards the man, but Hulk came to the rescue first. He caught Tony mid-air, and touched down on the ground below. The three quickly rushed to Tony and Hulk, and Rory ripped off Tony's mask. Steve leaned in to see if he was breathing, and Rory noticed the arc reactor wasn't glowing.

"Oh God, Tony…" She whispered. Suddenly, Hulk let out an ear-piercing roar and Tony shot up. Rory was elated.

"Ah! Ah… Oh God… What just happened?" Tony asked, panicked, "Please tell me nobody kissed me." Rory threw her head back and laughed.

"We won." Steve answered.

"Oh, alright, yay." Tony didn't sound very enthusiastic, "Alright, good job guys. Let's just not come in tomorrow, let's just take a day… Have you ever tried shawarma? There's a shawarma joint about two blocks from here. I dunno what it is, but I wanna try it." Rory chuckled, shaking her head incredulously at the man before her. Steve looked pretty amused as well.

"We are not finished yet." Thor spoke up.

"… And then shawarma after?

* * *

The group moved to the Stark Tower where they swarmed Loki. He was pulling himself out of a pile of rubble when he noticed them standing around him, with Clint pointing an arrow in his face. The man looked pretty beat up; Rory assumed she'd have to owe that one to Hulk. He did a lovely job of redecorating the floor with Loki.

"If it's all the same to you," Loki grunted while trying to move himself, "I think I'll have that drink now."

* * *

**WOOT. Chapter 4! Alright. These past chapters that went throughout the movie was mainly focused on Rory, getting her back story and whatnot, but now I'm going to be focusing more on her interactions with people (mainly Loki /coughcough).**

** TenebrisSaggitarius: Rory is the most ridiculous terminator created if she is. XD Thanks to that, I think Tony's got a new nickname for her. And at this point Rory doesn't realize that Thor and Loki are immortal, hence the 'kid' and 'son' and other such name calling. As for last chapter, that was not Loki talking to her, that was her guilty conscience. I re-read the chapter and can see how it was slightly confusing; I'm going to go back and rewrite that part. **

**Anywho, that's all for now guys! Please review! Reviews mean faster chapters! :D So do it! Tata for now~**

**-VA**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello there my lovely readers! This is chapter 5! Huzzah! Nothing much to say... But please review! It makes my day brighter, and bright days make the world spin. Because if there were no bright days the Earth would be launched into another ice age, and then everyone dies from hypothermia, and that is just not day brightening, now is it? **

**Hm. Anywho, on to Bionica~**

* * *

Rory sighed, sitting in the remnants of what was once Tony's bar. Loki and the Avengers were all off somewhere getting medical checkups, leaving Rory all by her lonesome. She had been mindlessly inspecting her military issued dog-tags when Director Fury had walked into the room.

"General Hart." He greeted monotonously.

"Director Fury." She returned with equal enthusiasm. Rory was not currently on good terms with the head of S.H.I.E.L.D.

"I need to speak with the team once the medics are done with them. I trust you can handle that?"

"Yeah." She responded shortly, not bothering to look at the man. Nothing more was said and Director Fury walked out. Rory scoffed.

"Arrogant prick." She muttered to herself as she stood from the couch. Rory decided to go find the others and see how they were doing. She began wandering the halls throughout the maze that was Stark Towers.

"Bah! How does Tony do this?" Rory asked exasperated.

"Could I be of assistance, Miss Hart?" An automated voice asked. Rory jumped in surprise.

"What the hell? Who are you?... _Where_ are you?"

"I am J.A.R.V.I.S., Miss Hart, I apologize for startling you. I am Mr. Stark's artificial intelligent unit. I am everywhere." Rory looked amused.

"Well… That sounds entirely like something Tony would do. J.A.R.V.I.S., could you tell me where to locate the medical facilities? I've seemed to have misplaced my colleagues."

"The medical facilities are down two floors, Miss Hart. Shall I inform Mr. Stark you are coming?"

"No, J.A.R.V.I.S., I think I'll surprise them. Thank you, though." Rory said politely as she made her way to the elevator.

"My pleasure, Miss Hart."

Rory arrived on the floor as J.A.R.V.I.S. had instructed her, and was in awe from all of the high end medical equipment.

"Lori!" Tony greeted with open arms. Rory rolled her eyes.

"I abhor your nicknames for me, Tony." Rory grinned and hugged him, "How are you, man?" Tony shrugged nonchalantly.

"I've had better days. I could really use a drink though…" Rory gave him a look and he gave her a lopsided grin.

"You might have to wait, Stark. Fury wants to talk to us after everyone is patched up." Tony rolled his eyes.

"What does the sky pirate want now?" He scoffed. Rory sat down beside him.

"I dunno, Tony. He didn't say anything else. I assume it's about the tesseract and Loki." Tony nodded.

"Well… Now I definitely need a drink. See you on the topside, Rores." He nodded and was off. Rory sighed with a smile. She got up and walked to Thor. He had just gotten his gash stitched up by a nurse, and was standing off to the side of the room.

"Hello Thor." Rory greeted.

"Good evening Lady Rory." He greeted solemnly. Thor was watching his brother get stitched up, and Rory could see how much it hurt him. The large man wore his heart on his sleeve.

"How is he?" She asked in a hushed tone.

"He will be well, but I am fearful of his punishment. I do not wish for Loki to stay upon Earth under S.H.I.E.L.D.'s power." Thor responded; even he was speaking quieter than normal.

"Understandably," Rory agreed, "I will help you in any way I can, Thor." The man gave Rory a dazzling smile.

"I thank you, Lady Rory." He slightly bowed and Rory smirked.

"Don't worry about it, hun." She winked and slapped him on the back, "Fury wants to speak to us as soon as you're done in here." Rory informed him, and took her leave.

* * *

Some thirty minutes later they regrouped on the top floor of Stark Towers. Rory was sitting on the couch, squished in between Tony and Clint. Fury walked in looking at the group sternly.

"We need to talk." He said firmly.

"Do we now, Nicky?" Tony's quick mouth would never cease to amaze Rory. Fury glared at Tony, but ignored him.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. wants to keep the war criminal Loki on Earth, where we will decide his fate."

"No!" Thor roared, standing from his seat, "I will not allow you to take my brother." Rory nodded.

"I agree with Thor. Loki and the tesseract are not going to be kept here on Earth." She said resolutely.

"We _need_ the tesseract here to-"

"Loki and the tesseract are _not_ going to be kept here on Earth." Rory repeated louder, giving Fury a look that would make a grown man cry. He looked at her, as if internally debating on whether or not he wants to stand up to the woman. He chose not to.

"Alright, Hart. Have it your way," He stepped down, "But I want you to accompany them."

"**What?**" Tony exploded, standing from his spot on the couch. He began approaching Fury, "Listen here, Nick, you are not going to come in here, and order people around! I'm sick and tired of you and your organization, and all their shit! You're not taking Rory away from us! I swear, pull something like this again, and Stark Industries and every well-known company in the world will be on your ass faster than you can say-"

"Tony." Rory rested a hand on his shoulder, silencing his rampage, "I'll go." Tony spun to her, about to go off on her too.

"Lorelei, don't you even-"

"Anthony Edward Stark!" Rory began in a reprimanding tone. Tony winced at the mention of his full name. He glared at her, but stood down, "Tony, someone has to go over there and be an ambassador to Earth. I am the least likely to die, and I'm expendable here. I'm not needed." Steve was the one to stand up this time.

"You are needed here Rory!" He insisted. Rory rolled her eyes.

"I was a hermit for the past ten years, Steve." She deadpanned. Steve clenched his jaw and looked away from her, "Sweet Jesus, guys. I'm not leaving forever." Rory stuck her hand on her hip. Tony huffed and turned to Fury.

"Fine. I don't like this, but she's going." Fury smirked in triumph. Tony frowned.

"BUT," He continued, "Give her a week. We have some things to discuss." Tony eyed Rory who looked confused. Fury turned to her with a questioning look. She glared at him.

"It's none of your concern." She said haughtily, "So, Loki and Thor will stay with me until we depart next week with the tesseract." Fury nodded and departed from the room. Rory was about to go off on Tony when she was engulfed with a hug from Thor.

"Ack!" She choked out, surprised, "Thor, dear, I happen to be a fan of personal space." Thor let go of the woman; a smile adorned his face.

"I thank you, Lady Rory. It seems you are talented in the taming of men; a very useful asset." Rory laughed with Thor.

"Thanks Thor. I think…" He nodded, and walked away, Rory assumed to collect his brother. Rory returned her attention to Tony.

"We need to talk, Tony?" She asked with a raised eyebrow. He motioned for her to walk with her. The two stayed silent until they were a good distance from the rest of the group.

"I had been looking into my dad's files about your design lately." Tony began. Rory nodded, encouraging him to continue, "Recently I found a new set of files. Before he died Howard had been redesigning your body. He never got a chance to finish it but…" He looked into Rory's eyes, "I put the finishing touches on the design when we were on board the helicarrier." Rory smiled at Tony.

"Thanks Tony, but I couldn't ask for you to do something like this, I mean, really, what can you do to update me?" Rory laughed. Tony led her to one of his large engineering rooms. He pulled up her file on a computer screen, and dragged her blueprints to the 3-D hologram computer. He tapped several features, bringing up a description of them. He stood back with his arms crossed as Rory read them.

"Microbots with basic senses?" She looked at Tony with awe, "You mean I'll be able to feel things again?"

"And taste and smell. I'll also be outfitting you with weapons like the MK 7. And setting up a microchip that will input J.A.R.V.I.S. in your shell, and you'll get new eyes with the best computing powers available," He pulled forward a picture of the eyes; they had a strange bionic look about them, "They look a bit strange, but I can get some hand-painted contacts to cover up the weird factor-" Tony continued babbling, but was interrupted from Rory flinging herself on to him.

"Tony! This is magnificent!" She said gratefully, "Thank you." Tony snorted.

"I was gonna wait for your birthday, but you know, flying off to another planet and what not…" Tony trailed off with a smirk. Rory laughed, "I'll have everything ready for you in a few days. I'll have one of my jets pick you up from your little shack out there." Rory gave him a look, but couldn't help the smile on her face.

"Fair enough, Mr. Stark. Fair enough." The two went back to the top floor to see the others mindlessly chattering. Loki had been sitting in the corner with a strange pair of cuffs on his wrists. Rory smirked at him, and turned her attention to Thor.

"Tony has been nice enough to loan us a ride to my home. Whenever you are ready to leave…" She nodded to him. He stood up.

"We are ready to depart now, Lady Rory." He said, grabbing his brother.

"Lovely."

* * *

After a couple of hours the three arrived at Rory's small home in the middle of nowhere. Rory walked in first, throwing the unlocked door open.

"Make yourself at home, children." Rory sighed, flopping on her couch. Thor looked around fascinated by the small knick-knacks Rory had everywhere. Loki looked pissed, as normal.

"Your home is small, but filled with many things, Lady Rory." Thor said in awe. Rory snorted.

"Yeah, it's a bit of a mess. Oh hey!" Rory got up and rummaged through her belongings, "Tony sent some clothes for you two, so we could go grab food with you not looking… Like that." Rory looked them both up and down and vigorously agreed with Tony. No Asgardian clothing in public. Thor nodded, and took the suitcase from Rory.

"I will have to thank the man of iron." Thor noted to himself. Rory nodded, and led them to her bedroom.

"You can sleep here, Thor. You'll need the larger bed. The bathroom is through that door." Rory pointed. He thanked her, and took a set of clothes with him to change. She turned to Loki.

"Come on, I have no intentions of killing you today." Rory smirked, leading him in to her guest bedroom, "Bathroom is through that door. Don't try running away; you'll die of starvation before you hit town." She gave him a sickly sweet smile and he grimaced. He walked into his bathroom with his clothes and began changing.

Twenty minutes later the three piled in to Rory's 1977 Jeep Cherokee Chief and they sped off into town. The wind roared through the open windows, and Thor looked like a dog sticking his head out the side.

"Lady Rory, are these speeds lawful here? We are travelling very fast!" He didn't seem too bothered by the fact, but Rory could see him very clearly gripping the 'Oh Shit' handle above him.

"It's only illegal if they catch you." Rory smirked, flying down the road.

* * *

Another twenty minutes had passed and they finally arrived at the grocery store. Rory walked in and grabbed a shopping cart.

"Grab anything you guys want to eat the next couple of days. The bill is on me."

Rory began walking down the aisles and Thor would grab plenty of things from each of them. Every now and then Loki would toss something in when he thought Rory wasn't paying attention, causing Rory to smirk at him. Rory groaned when she saw the final bill, but she knew that Thor would definitely eat all of this. He honestly must have four stomachs.

"This all looks delicious, Lady Rory! We shall feast when we arrive home, yes?" Thor questioned with an optimistic grin. Loki stood beside him with his arms crossed as he rolled his eyes. Rory smiled at Thor's infectious attitude, and nodded.

"Yes, I'll cook when we get back home." She agreed. Thor had helped her finish loading the groceries into her car while Loki had climbed into the back of the car.

* * *

They arrived back at Rory's home and she immediately went to work. It took nearly an hour to cook the vast amount of food they had dedicated for the night's dinner. Rory was just finishing up in the kitchen; Thor was showering, and Loki was sitting in her living room glaring at the TV.

"Loki, be a dear and clean off the table." Rory asked while occupying herself with the oven. She only heard a growl in response. Rory turned to the unmoved god.

"Loki, get your ass up, and clear off the table." Rory said a little more forcefully. He glared at her, but stood up and went to move the random things off of the dining table to the coffee table in the living room.

"Why do you have so much junk on your dining table in the first place?" He growled. Rory grabbed the food from the oven and placed it on the table.

"Because I don't eat." Rory replied as if it were the most normal thing in the world. Loki looked at her suspiciously.

"Blasphemy." He challenged. Rory snorted at his antiquated speech.

"No, no blasphemy. Didn't Thor tell you? I'm pretty much a robot." Rory shrugged. His suspicious look did not falter.

"How is this possible?"

"Quit asking questions and go get your brother." Rory said in a scolding, motherly fashion. Loki glared and stomped off to summon Thor. The two shortly reemerged, ready to eat. They sat down at the table, and Thor began piling food on his plate. Loki, in a more dignified manner, put food on his plate as well.

"Do you not eat either, Lady Rory?" Thor asked, remembering that she said she didn't drink.

"No, Thor. I have no reason to." Rory said, as she sat back smiling, "So I apologize if the food is subpar; I haven't been able to taste anything in 70 years." Thor rumbled with laughter, and Loki looked at her confused.

"Seventy years? Just how old are you, android?" Loki questioned. Rory sat back and began counting. It had been awhile since she's celebrated a birthday.

"Let's see… I turn ninety-one in August." Loki looked amused at her response. Thor grinned at her.

"You are but a few years younger than us, Lady Rory!" Thor boomed, "And worry not about your culinary talents; this tastes marvelous." Thor continued munching on food and completely missed Rory's shocked expression.

"A few years _younger_ than you?" She gawked, "How old are you?"

"I am 103 on this year. Loki is but 101." Loki turned to Rory, enjoying her shocked reaction.

"What, you thought us younger?" He asked with a smirk. Rory closed her gaping mouth to glare at him.

"Loki, I can still murder you in your sleep." She threatened. He looked positively smug.

* * *

After dinner Thor helped Rory with the dishes, and shortly went to bed as did Loki. Rory sat in her living room on her couch silently reading a horror novel. It was about two in the morning when she heard a rustling come from behind her. Rory jumped and pulled a gun on the noise, to see that it was a tired looking Loki. Glaring, Rory pocketed her gun and returned to her seat. Loki walked into the living room and sat in a chair, and he gazed into the fireplace, saying nothing. Five minutes passed and Rory finally broke the silence.

"Are you not tired, Loki?" She asked, peeking over her novel to look at him. She could tell he was tired; there were large purple bags under his eyes, he skin seemed whiter, and he looked more gaunt than normal.

"It's none of your concern, _machine_." Loki spat, glaring at her. Rory scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"Fine, drama queen." She muttered and returned to her book.

"… I am plagued by the nightmares of my failures." Loki quietly answered her question, but made a point to avoid her gaze, "I do not know what will happen to me." Rory's eyes softened and she didn't know what to say for a moment.

"… Do you want to play chess?" She asked softly as she put down her book. Loki tossed her a brief, thankful glance, and nodded. Rory smiled as she pulled out a chess board and began to play with the god.

* * *

The next morning Rory was merrily cooking breakfast, happy to be putting that skill to use again, when a sleepy Thor walked in.

"Good morning, Thor." Rory greeted with a grin. She couldn't help the giggle that escaped from her mouth when he yawned and rubbed his eyes.

"Good morning Lady Rory." He sleepily greeted. His hair was a mess, and it made him look like a large lion. Lion Thor sat down at the table and Rory brought him a plate of pancakes, eggs, and bacon, along with a bottle of syrup.

"Here's breakfast." She smiled, and took a seat across from him.

"Where is Loki? He is not one for sleeping late." Thor asked, confused, and slightly weary that Rory killed him in his sleep.

"He was up pretty late. We were playing chess." Thor chuckled.

"I hope he did not beat you too bad, Lady Rory. He was quite the avid chess player when we were children; Loki was absolutely relentless to any opponent."

"He didn't beat me, Thor." Rory tilted her head to the side and grinned at him. He looked impressed.

"You beat my brother in chess? I am stunned, Lady Rory. I do not believe anyone on Asgard has accomplished such a feat." Rory rolled her eyes.

"Shut up and eat your pancakes, Thor."

Loki soon came out of his room, looking tired, but still refined. Rory figured his dignity wouldn't let him come out looking like he just rolled out of bed. Smiling, Rory put a plate of food in front of Loki.

"Morning." She greeted cheerily. Loki merely nodded and began eating. Thor, not one for silence, began loudly chattering with Rory.

"Lady Hart, what was it you and the metal man talking about yesterday?" Thor inquired in his booming voice.

"Tony's outfitting me with a new body. I'm going to be more human-like." Rory exclaimed, obviously excited. Thor beamed at her.

"That is wondrous news! Will you be able to get drunk with us?" He further inquired. Rory burst into laughter.

"I certainly hope so, Thor!" She said grinning.

* * *

The day passed by in a blur, mostly filled with Thor flipping through channels on TV, enthralled with everything he came across, Loki and Rory playing chess, food, and other mindless activities. Thor soon went to bed, leaving Loki and Rory to finish their chess match. A couple of moves passed and Rory declared checkmate once more. Loki glared at the woman, obviously put off by the fact he had lost so much.

"Oh, quit being an angsty teenager, Loki, and go to bed. I think I'm actually going to sleep tonight too." Rory said, suppressing a yawn. He looked at her questionably.

"I thought you did not sleep, android." He said with a raised eyebrow. Rory shook her head.

"I don't need as much sleep as you because I don't get physically exhausted. My brain, however, does require rest. I sleep every three or four days." Rory informed him. He nodded understandingly.

"Would you like your bed?" He asked. Rory snorted.

"My, my, you're quite gentlemanly for someone who wanted to enslave the Earth." Rory teased. Loki did not appreciate the joke, and glared at her, "No, you take the bed; this couch will be just fine for me." Rory said, taking a pillow and tossing it to one side of the couch. She took her gun out of her waistband and put it on the coffee table next to her.

"Good night, Loki." She muttered, closing her eyes. He said nothing as he stood up and left for his room.

* * *

_"Incoming fire!" The sound of gunshots. "Private, hightail it out of here, now!" Running. Running. Panting. Can't stop running. Can't look back. Don't look back. Looking back. Commander is dead. Dead? They're all dead. Keep running. Must keep moving. Don't get shot._

"_Colonel Hart!" _

_Stop._

_Look. _

_Listen._

… _Silence. Nothing but desert sand. Wait. Surrounded. We're surrounded. No way out. Have to try._

"_Get in the jeep, men!" They weren't fast enough. Bullets ricochet off of me. Dead. My soldiers are dead. My friends are dead._

_Walking. Need to clear my head. Damned men won't let me fight. I am a Captain; I can do what I please. I've been in the midst of gunfire before! Yes. I will tell them. I will fight with them. Just because I'm a woman doesn't-_

_**BOOM.**_

* * *

Rory shot off of the couch and grabbed her gun, pointing and firing at the noise. Silence. Rory snapped out of her daze and finally saw the very stunned Loki. The bullet just _barely _missed his head. The two stood motionless for a moment, Loki waiting to see if she was going to fire again, and Rory to sort out what happened in her mind. Loki took a tentative step forward.

"Lorelei…" He said in a forced calm voice, "Can you put down your firearm?" Rory slowly nodded, lowering her weapon. Loki deliberately walked toward the woman, so as not to frighten her again, and took the gun from her hand. He placed it out of her reach as he set her down. Loki went to check on Thor, who was sound asleep. The bastard. When he came back to the living room Rory had her face buried in her hands and she was slightly shaking. Loki sat down beside her.

"… What happened?" She asked quietly, not looking up to meet Loki's eyes.

"I heard you yelling. I came to see what was going on and you shot at me." Loki said spitefully. His malice went unnoticed by Rory who was trying to collect her thoughts.

"Sorry." She whispered. Loki scoffed.

" 'Sorry'? Is that the best you can do? You nearly killed me, woman!" Loki said, his voice rising. Rory nodded and sighed.

"It was… a nightmare. A silly nightmare. I won't sleep by my gun, again. I'm sorry." Rory scoffed at the childishness of the situation, but Loki's eyes slightly softened.

"I know something of nightmares, android. Tell me about it." Rory shuttered.

"I was back in the wars. All of them. And everyone around me was dead. God, I hate this body. I would've been better off dead from that explosion." Rory mumbled to herself. Loki scowled at her.

"Do not take your abilities for granted, woman." Loki sneered. Rory wasn't listening.

"Go back to bed, Loki. And hide my gun." Rory said as she glanced at a nearby clock. 4:30. She could get started on breakfast now, and have it ready by the time Thor wakes up. Without another word Loki took Rory's gun and went back to his bedroom. Rory ran her fingers through her mussed hair, thinking over the dream again. How she wish she could drink away her nightmares.

"That'll be the first thing I do when Stark is finished with me." Rory said to herself as she got up and began preparing breakfast.

* * *

**Ta-da! Rory gets a new body! Exciting. : **

**I hope you guys can semi-understand Rory's dream. That portion was actually _incredibly_ hard to write, and I still don't think I did it justice. She was hopping around to different events that happened in her long military career, ending with her fateful stroll onto a landmine. All will be revealed shortly. :P**

**And so, that concludes this chapter of Bionica! Please review, like I said, if you don't we get launched into an Ice Age and shit just goes down from there. :P**

**-VA**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey guys! So, it's been awhile... :P Haha. I'm going to apologize in advance, this chapter is REALLY short. I'll explain at the bottom authors note~ Here's the disclaimer, obviously I don't own Marvel. So, read onward!**

* * *

The next morning Thor woke up in the same manner he did the previous one; wild haired and grinning. Rory was silently cooking breakfast for him.

"Good morning, Lady Rory." He greeted lazily. Rory didn't respond as she set his plate in front of him. He looked at her perplexed, "What ails you, friend?" He asked her. Rory shook her head.

"Nothing, Thor." She murmured. Thor didn't persist, but knew something was wrong. Loki soon filed into the room, being equally as quiet as Rory. Unbeknownst to the pair, Thor _had_ woken up at the sound of the gunshot. Once he realized that Loki would try to make him talk to Rory he climbed back into his bed and feigned sleep. Thor understood Rory's talk of nightmares of war; there were many a night where Thor had nightmares of battle too.

"We're leaving in an hour." Rory snapped Thor out of his thoughts.

"For the metal man's home?" He questioned.

Rory nodded, "We won't be coming back here, so try not to leave anything."

* * *

The trip to Tony's was just as awkward and silent as it was in Rory's kitchen. She hated having her own little pity party, but with each passing nightmare it seemed as if it was harder to reign in her emotions. On the plane ride Thor caught Rory's unhappiness and incessantly tried cheering her up, but to no avail on his part. The group soon landed and was escorted to Stark Tower. They were greeted by Pepper Potts. She smiled brightly.

"Hello Thor, Rory, Loki." She nodded, "Rory, Tony's waiting for you now. 23rd floor, fourth door on your right." Rory nodded. She turned to Thor who gave her a reassuring nod. With a small smile Rory departed to the elevator. Rory tapped her foot nervously as the elevator went up. The war, her nightmare, plus her impending operation made Rory anxious. The elevator dinged as the doors opened and Rory jumped at the noise. She looked around nervously.

**BANG.**

_'Oh God! Gunshots! We're under attack!'_ She ducked and rolled, landing behind a beam in the hallway. Rory pulled out her gun from her waistband and aimed it ahead.

After a moment Rory was surprised to see she was aimed at none other than a surprised looking Tony Stark, and that she wasn't holding a gun at all. Tony looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Nice trick there, Rores. Circus teach you that?" He snorted, as he approached her and held out a hand to help her up. Rory glared at the man but took his hand.

"The Army is not the Circus, Tony." She scowled. Tony scoffed.

"Please, Rory, spare me the speech," He rolled his eyes and began making his way to one of his laboratories, "Come on, we've got to go drill holes in you now, kiddo." Tony winked and slapped Rory on the ass. Rory rolled her eyes and chuckled.

"I'd knock you out if you weren't so useful, and you can't call me kid, I'm older than you!" Rory nudged him.

"You're like that gay sparkling vampire; eternally twelve." Tony snorted again and opened the door to his lair. Rory was about to make a disdainful remark, but was taken aback by the vast amount of gadgets and knick-knacks Tony had assimilated. She let his comment slide, and began assessing several devices.

"You've been busy." She stated. Tony looked confused.

"What, this? This is just something I threw together." Tony waved her off, and she stared after him slack-jawed.

"Keep up, Schwarzenegger; we've got a schedule to keep." He snapped his fingers repeatedly until Rory climbed on to the metal table in the center of the room. Rory furrowed her brows and looked at Tony.

"Will this… hurt?" The words sounded foreign in her mouth. Tony didn't spare a look at her as he was prepping his tools.

"Essentially, pain is a feeling that comes from something not working the correct way. Since you're made entirely of metal, and it all functions properly (with no way for it to _not_ work properly); no."

"But what _if_ something happened? Like somehow one of my arms got ripped off or something?" Rory further inquired animatedly.

"Well, I would imagine you'd be in agonizing pain." Rory gulped, wide-eyed. It wasn't exactly the answer she was looking for. Tony pulled his welding mask over his face and turned to Rory.

"Now, I would explain to you what's going to happen, but I think it's tiring and you wouldn't understand, SO," He grabbed a tool that Rory couldn't even begin to guess what it was used for, "Go to sleep and you'll wake up a new Terminator." Rory could _feel_ Tony's irritating smirk and wink under the welding mask.

"Can it, Stark, just get me fixed up."

"You got it, babe."

* * *

**/Sometime Later that Night/**

Tony was sitting at the bar on the top floor of Stark Tower. It seemed as if he had only just begun working on Rory, but he started over fifteen hours ago, with no breaks for him. As much as Tony disliked saying it, Rory was one of the few people he respected, and he wasn't going to screw up her body because he was tired and unfocused. Tony sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He needed a few more drinks for the annoying whir of his ever-working mind to quiet down. As Tony was pouring himself another glass of expensive scotch Thor walked into the room. Tony raised an eyebrow.

"Can't sleep, big man?" Tony asked with a small slur in his voice. Thor wearily looked at the man and shook his head.

"I worry for Lady Rory greatly. I cannot force myself into slumber because of it." Thor admitted. Tony passed him a glass of scotch which Thor gratefully took, "And you, friend Anthony?" Tony winced at the word 'friend'. It was dangerous for him to get too comfortable with people.

"I'm through working on her for tonight. I need to get some sleep so I can focus in the morning." Tony said quietly. Thor nodded.

"You are… well acquainted with Lady Rory, correct?" Tony narrowed his eyebrows menacingly at Thor.

"Yeah, what of it?" Tony shot spitefully. Thor either didn't catch his malicious tone, or chose to ignore it as he continued.

"Has she spoken to you of nightmares?" Thor asked, not looking up from his glass of scotch. Tony looked surprised for a fraction of a second.

'_That would explain why she was so jumpy this morning…'_

"Why? Did she talk about them with you?" Tony relaxed a little, but couldn't help the twinge of jealousy that leaked into his speech. Thor shook his head.

"Nay, she spoke with my brother. I gather he was awoken by her screams; I was later awoken by her firearm. I overheard them talking; Lady Rory spoke of battle. Do her nightmares plague her often?" Tony sighed and rubbed his temple. He downed his scotch and poured himself another glass before he launched into Rory's story.

"You ought to know by now that Rory doesn't age like normal humans. She was born nearly a hundred years ago, and after an incident in war she had her body re-outfitted with an indestructible metal. The Army," Tony spat the name like it was acid, "Decided she was invaluable. They promoted her, and she was naïve enough to continue serving this corrupt country. They probably wouldn't have even flinched if she had died." Tony snarled. After a moment of fuming he calmed down and continued telling the story.

"She was fine for a while, or so my father told me. But through the years and all the wars Rory's mind couldn't handle the trauma. About twenty years ago she was finally diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. She's handled it admirably; I thought with her past decade in seclusion she'd have enough time to settle her mind." Tony threw back his scotch, "I guess it wasn't." A frown adorned Tony's face as he was looking off into the distance. He was suddenly brought back to reality from a hard slap on the back that came from Thor.

"I see you a great friend of Lady Rory's, friend Tony. You care about her more than you are willing to admit." Thor commended, as if it was something monumental that Tony actually had befriended a person. Tony scowled and lifted his glass to his mouth only to find it empty. With a huff he placed it in the sink, and walked to the elevator.

"Thor," Tony called him as an afterthought. The man looked up at Tony, "You'd better take care of her there. I won't hesitate killing you." Tony threatened. Thor smiled.

"Worry not, Tony. I will make sure she is treated with the utmost care." Thor declared, and Tony's piercing glare softened. With a nod, the elevator doors closed and Tony went on his way to his room for whatever sleep he could muster. He had a long day ahead of him.

* * *

**YEAH. Really short. Sorry! I just felt that Rory's big reveal should be a chapter all it's own. Y'know? But I should have up the next chapter tomorrow though, so despair not! But still; please review! It makes me happy! Give me some ideas for Rory's big revamp, or her impending trip to Asgard! I love all of your ideas, they're inspiring. And inspiration is something I seriously lack as of late, so do it! **

**-VA out.**


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